Friday, 30 September 2011

The Rouge Bunny Rouge Face Contour brush (£46) is made with natural squirrel hair.The hairs are extremely soft, and have a wonderful delicacy about them much like the blusher brush 002. Its an interesting shape, and I don't have a dupe in my collection, its quite short and flat without the typical slanted head of a lot of contour brushes.It picks up a veil of product and deposits it seamlessly. I don't often contour, but when I do this works really well, and I don't get that obvious stripe mark. This brush also works well for blush application due to its concise shape and also for highlighting.Here it is in the middle with the RBR powder and blusher brush.The Rouge Bunny Rouge brushes are luxurious and the face brushes do come at quite a high price, however they are completely worth it in my opinion as I haven't found cheaper brushes that give comparable product laydown/finished look.

Wednesday, 28 September 2011

The Lost Weekend palette (£35) creates a really pretty understated look with natural definition.The palette contains:Moleskin: delicate matte nude/stone, with a very slight mauve toneChino: medium matte warmed coco brown.Moiré: delicately silver shimmered light mauve with beige tones.Its more natural, sheer and warm compared to the Holiday 2010 Enigma palette (both swatched below to show how different they are)The matte shades are very smooth, Moire less so because of the shimmer. They blend nicely and last all day with an eye base.The palettes are quite slim line, yet feel sturdy, have a really good sized mirror and come with a little tapered brush that works well in the crease.Ingredients:I bought this from zuneta.com

Sunday, 25 September 2011

The Becca fall Lost Weekend collection showcases neutral, dusty, earthy tones.Of the three nail colours, I choose the darkest, Billy Tea (£12). I initially thought it just brown, but it definitely has a taupe vibe to it in real life. The colour is matte.The formula is free from Formaldehyde, Toluene, Camphor and Di Butyl Phthalate. The polish dries fast and I get no colour fade or dulling of colour, although I do need to wear a top coat to prevent chipping.Ingredients:Beach Tint Fig (£19), is an existing shade but forms part of the Lost weekend look. This shade is described on the Zuneta site as a Tea Rose nude and that's spot on. The colour is sheer, but I do find it buildable.What I like about these is that they do not feel drying nor are they greasy. They last very well and cause my acne prone skin no problem.Ingredients:Finally, here is proof of just how quick my little boy is when he sees the opportunity for some makeup grabbing! I didn't realise how close he was when I was merrily taking my photos, I did get the beach tint off him..eventually..I bought these from zuneta.com

Friday, 23 September 2011

Although I mourned the lost of the Aqualumiere's, the Rouge Coco Shines (whilst not quite the same formula) have been a welcome addition.I think the range is extremely wearable, the colours crisp and fresh and the shine/gloss finish is flattering.They feel lightweight, quite hydrating and apply smoothly. However, the one drawback is lasting power, these are very fleeting, because of this I have tried to curb my longing for more shades, but I have failed.Bel Ami #66 is a natural plummy rose with a bit of brown, Fetiche #52 is a cool toned mauve pink. (£23 each)Swatches L-R: Fetiche,Bel Ami

I'll do a round up post soon showing you all my Coco Shine together as I seem to have a bit of a collection going with them.

Wednesday, 21 September 2011

Mama Mio, the brand known for its range of body care products for use during and after pregnancy brought out a skincare range this year. I'd been very pleased with their products I used during and after pregnancy so the skincare interested me.I bought the Eye Know moisturising serum (£27.50 for 15ml). Each product comes with a Little Book of Confidence (contains product information, how to do Face Fitness and the brands philosophy) they include 60-second exercises for your facial muscles ( "30 seconds of High Brows brow lifting exercise for a wide-awake look and 30 seconds of Lost Baggage micro muscle lift to smooth under-eyes"), its a nice little addition and not something I have seen before.I have to confess I did the exercises for the first 2 weeks but alas I am not a disciplined person so didn't carry on with the routine so bear this in mind with my review of the products performance.This product makes a lot of claims, it proposes to provide "24 hour moisturising hydration,be a wrinkle-fighting whilst banishing dark shadows and gently tightening and lifting for a wide-eyed and wide-awake effect. Packed with peptides, grape stem cell technology, antioxidants and triple action EyePro 3X, it’s what every girl needs to look like you’ve had 8 hours sleep … but in 60 seconds!"Very big claims indeed, so how did it perform?It has a light weight gel consistency, clear in colour, I don't detect a scent.The site lists reasons for why they love it, these are the reasons why I don't:

• Does not provide enough moisture, after a few weeks use my eye area felt much dryer, lines more apparent, skin looked a bit sore.• Made no difference to puffiness, gave no lifting effect.• wasn't a good base for eye concealer as it was prone to ball up and flack off.

Ingredients:The only thing I did like about it was that it felt slightly cooling. I had high hopes for this and I really like the detail given to the presentation of the product and do like the ethos of the brand but I have to concede that I felt this product was actually making my eye area look worse than it did before which is why after using it for nearly two months I have given up on it.

Sunday, 18 September 2011

Blondette Fatale (£33) is one of those palettes where you just know the colours are going to be winners even before you try. Its just very well put together, some shades have cool hints,others warm, but nothing overly so thus allowing for it to be wearable by the majority. I was pleasantly surprised by the texture as I haven't bought Lancome shadows for years. These are soft, smooth and pigmented, blend lovely and last all day with an eye base.It contains a matte cool toned dark brown, gentle brown with a satin finish (these two shades are also meant for filling in eyebrows but both are too dark for my fair brows), shimmery bronze brown, metallic beige pink with a taupe edgeIngredients:If you are interested in easy to wear everyday neutrals, this palette will hit the spot.

Friday, 16 September 2011

I think of YSL as quite a colourful brand, and whilst they are not amongst my favourites, I always check out their collections as they usually have something interesting to add to the mix.Moonlight blue is a deep midnight blue with a hint of shimmer and Wintergreen is a dark teal with subtle shimmer (£16.50 each)The formula is thick and I could probably get away with one coat if I had better application (my first coat is a rush job the second an attempt to patch up the errors). It seems to set really quick so I felt like I had to apply it quickly for fear of it going patchy. Although I get no colour fade, this chips on me in 1 to 2 days so a top coat is a must (to be fair the majority of brands chip on me in this same time frame).Picture below of WintergreenMoonlight BlueMy Nail pictures aren't ever impressive, to see really good pictures of these please view Makeup Magpies beautiful post here http://makeupmagpie.blogspot.com/2011/08/ysl-fall-2011-midnight-garden.html

I do wish I could get better wear of these, I think due to the thickness my currant favourite top coat (Becca) doesn't gel with these, so I'll likely try some different top coats as I intend to wear these shades a lot as I really like these deep, jewel-toned colours.

Wednesday, 14 September 2011

MAC Lady Grey (£33), is a palette of soft cool toned shadows. True to its name all shades contain a varying degree of grey.

The palette contains:All Races: very pale dusty mauve pink with a hint of grey, this is similar to Illamasqua Spectre.Tendersome: a greyed purple, its meant to have a frost finish but I'd say its very subtle. This is very sheer and I think would have fared much better had pigmentation been up a notch.Lady Grey: is a sheer dull green grey with a satin finishHazy Day: a medium grey with a veluxe pearl finish.I bought this palette for Hazy Day and All Races, had I bought it for the other two shades I would have been disappointed as I find them dull (you can probably see this from my swatches below).Swatches L-R:Lady Grey, All Races,Tendersome, Hazy Day

The eyeshadows feel quite smooth and blend nicely, the Veluxe Pearl finish of Hazy days is my favourite as its that bit smoother with a more creamy feel and less drying than your typical MAC shade.I was very hesitant to post this look as its doesn't look good, I don't use all the shades together like this normally but I wanted to show you them all. Try to ignore the fact that I seem to have missed putting my mascara on the inner lashes, not sure what happened there!As you can see it doesn't really do much for me using all the shades together. I do however really like All Races and Hazy Days so its not a complete loss.

Sunday, 11 September 2011

The nine eyeshadow palettes on offer from Guerlain’s fall collection contain a varying range of finishes; matte, iridescent, metallic and satin, although Les Perles seemed mostly iridescence.The shadows are the same formula's as those in the Ecrin 6 couleurs eye shadow palettes. Although they don't have the same intricate packaging as the 6 pans, in some ways I prefer having less shadows as there is no guess work with shadow placement and the price is a lot more forgiving.I went for Les Fumes (£37). I'd say this palette leans cool.

It contains a satin ashy grey, matte dusty pink, metallic silver grey with a touch of mauve and a matte dusty cool brown.The colours are buildable, they feel quite smooth, although the metallic shade is noticeably smoother and more creamy. They don't feel drying, blend well and last all day with an eye base. Although I don't consider these stand out colours as such, the combination of shades works effortlessly and allows for an every day look or a soft smokey effect.I'll likely go back for some of the other palettes, these are a permanent addition to the range and I think with the variant of shades on offer your going to find at least one you want to take home with you.

Friday, 9 September 2011

I picked up my second and last Illusion d'Ombre. The shade Illusoire (£22.50) is a greyed purple/mauve with a heavy silver shimmer/metallic finish.The spongy mousse like textures of these products are non drying and blend well, pigmentation is really good.Swatched below on the left and blended in on the right:However, I can't get on board with the long wearing claims. I'd been wearing a light wash of Epatant on the main lid and it lasts quite well with an eye base, however I have been wearing Illusoire higher up, above the crease, still with a base and have noticed I do get creasing after about 5 hours, this probably seems like I am being extraordinarily picky but I expect my shadows to last from when I put them on in the morning to when I get home (over 11 hours) and even though I only have one Armani Eyes to Kill shadow, the wear of that product outshines this.I do think the two Chanel shades I have are really pretty, and I don't regret buying them but I'd go for another Armani next time as I know its going to give me wear that I can rely on.

Here's how it looks on, I've used it on the lid, with just a few of the shades from the Sleek Au Naturel Palette in the crease and to highlight & line.I bought this from Debenhams.

Wednesday, 7 September 2011

The first thing that struck me about the Matchmaster foundation (£24.50) was the shade range, the lightest shade 1.0 is lighter than a NW/NC 15, great news if like me you have found MAC foundations too dark.The foundation comes in the same pump style packaging as the pro long wear, albeit a slighter larger size, 35ML, as opposed to 30 ML.Bottles compared below:The texture is slightly thicker, more creamy compared to the liquid feel of pro long wear. I've just dispensed a bit of Matchmaster on the Left and Pro long wear on the right to show the more runny texture of long wear.The coverage is medium, the finish is semi matte, it does give the skin a more healthy look and I did notice some of my lines looked diffused with this.

Shade 1.0 is slightly yellow toned, yet still looks natural, here is it on the left compared to the pro long wear NC15 on the right.On application this felt moisturising, yet I noticed it looked a bit cakey on parts of my skin where I was recovering from a break out.It also feels heavy during the day and I had more shine breakthrough than normal so I'm not sure how well it would fare with oily skin. I don't find this long lasting, I'd say the coverage faded after about 5 hours (with no powdering on top).Although there are flaws with the wear and feel of this, I was very happy with the colour and liked the overall finish, however I had to stop using this.As mentioned my skin was recovering from a break out when I started using this, I had been wearing this everyday and kept getting more and more spots, since I stopped wearing it I've had no new spots. I think I'll give my skin a month to heal and then re-try just to be sure, but at this point I am pretty confident this was the cause of the new spots.It does has a chemical smell to it, I don't notice it once on as such but do when I apply it, ingredients below:In terms of what skin type would benefit best from this, from my experience I would say dryer skin, maybe more mature and not an acne sufferer.

Sunday, 4 September 2011

The packaging for the Dior new 3-Couleurs Smoky Palettes is quite sleek and innovative, you slide the top lid back and up pops a mirror, revealing the eyeshadows.
Each trio contains a matte, a metallic and a base colour.
Smoky Nude (£32) contains a matte warm camel brown, shimmery/metallic warm coppery browned beige, shimmery golden ivory.
Unfortunately these shades go on a lot warmer than they look in the pan, so this isn't the best for my very cool toned skin.
The matte feels slightly dryer, less smooth than the other shadows however it still applies well. Pigment is very good, they last well and blend easily.
I really think with these its worth checking them out at a counter if you can as there is a variant with the metallic shades. I was underwhelmed with the two smoky palettes for fall as I felt the metallic shade was not pigmented and a bit rough to the touch and indeed having swatched most of the others some are better than others.